Police Board Greenpeace Ship Near England

Published 7:00 pm, Friday, January 31, 2003

Associated Press Writer

Police boarded a Greenpeace protest ship Saturday and planned to force it out of the entrance to a military port on the south coast of England, authorities said.

Environmental activists opposed to a war in Iraq have been protesting at the Marchwood military dock in Southampton where supply ships bound for the Persian Gulf are loading munitions. Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior anchored at the entrance to the port.

The Ministry of Defense said the environmental group's ship was blocking the port, but it lost a bid Friday for a court order telling the vessel to move.

Saying the ship was engaged in a political protest, Judge Roger Thomas said the Ministry of Defense had not presented compelling evidence that the vessel was actually blockading the port.

But on Saturday, harbor officials ordered Greenpeace to move the ship for "behaving in an unsafe manner when in the vicinity of other vessels," the Royal Navy said.

When Rainbow Warrior refused to budge, 21 police officers from the Hampshire Constabulary and the Ministry of Defense boarded the ship, the statement said. It said they intended either to gain control of the ship or attach lines to a tugboat and pull it away to a commercial port.

"We have given the Rainbow Warrior ample opportunity to follow the directives under the terms of the Merchant Shipping Act," the statement said.

Greenpeace criticized the boarding of its ship.

"Greenpeace has acted completely peacefully during the course of this anti-war protest," spokesman William Peden said. "We believe the government is acting beyond its jurisdiction by going against the due process of law."

The Royal Navy said the removal of Rainbow Warrior would permit the supply ship Dart, loaded with tanks and helicopters, to leave the dock.